1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, a data recording method and a data-display control method, and a computer program. More particularly, the present invention relates to an imaging apparatus that includes a camera provided with a GPS (Global Positioning System), acquires positional information corresponding to photographed data, and executes various kinds of data processing using the acquired information, a data recording method and a data-display control method in the imaging apparatus, and a computer program for causing a computer to execute processing in the imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an imaging apparatus such as a video camera or a still camera that is given a GPS (Global Positioning System) function to make it possible to acquire positional information has been proposed and used.
By mounting a GPS device in the imaging apparatus in this way, for example, it is possible to perform processing for, for example, calculating positional information corresponding to a photographed image, calculating a moving locus of a user (a photographer), and presenting the moving locus on a display of a personal computer (PC) or the like to which the camera is connected.
To represent a movement history using the positional information, a method of typically positioning a present location with the GPS device, recording a log including acquired positional information in a memory, and rendering a moving locus on the basis of the log is generally used. This is a method of verifying, with a time stamp serving as time information set in periodically acquired GPS information as a key, correspondence of photographing date and time information corresponding to photographed contents and associating the photographed data and GPS positional information to acquire a moving locus.
However, in this method, it is necessary to typically supply electricity to the GPS device and continuously execute information reception from a satellite to continuously record logs. As a result, power consumption in the GPS device increases. In portable apparatuses such as a video camera and a still camera generally driven by batteries, the batteries undesirably run down earlier than usual.
In order to present a moving locus or the like to the user, it is a general practice to connect the camera to the PC and perform processing for outputting log information and photographed data acquired by the GPS device to the PC and executing data processing for locus presentation processing on the basis of the log information and the photographed data using an application on the PC to present a moving locus on the display of the PC. In other words, processing for instantaneously or conveniently combining the moving locus with a map or the like and displaying the moving locus on a liquid crystal screen or the like of a photographing apparatus body has not been realized.
This is because log data including positional information and time information acquired by the GPS device is recorded in a memory as independent log data and, on the other hand, the photographed data is independently recorded in a separate file together with attribute information such as photographing date and time information. The log data and the photographed data are held in the memories as separate recording data. Thus, in performing the processing, the presentation of locus information, and the like described above, it is necessary to perform processing for searching for, with a time stamp serving as time information set in GPS information as a key, correspondence of photographing date and time information corresponding to photographed contents and processing for associating the photographed data with GPS positional information to calculate a moving locus. When these kinds of processing are executed in the inside of the imaging apparatus, processing loads are excessively large. Thus, in general, the data is outputted to the PC or the like to perform the processing.
In a system in which information acquired by a GPS device and photographed data related information are separately recorded and managed, when it is attempted to perform processing for displaying an imaginary moving locus among photographed contents as a user feels convenient, for example, processing for displaying a positional relation among photographed contents in plural times of travels to France in different periods on one screen in a compound state, complicated processing has to be executed.
A procedure of the processing is as follows. First, plural image data files, in which photographed images of the plural times of travels to France are stored, are selected. Association of image data in the image data files including photographed data generated in these different periods with GPS information logs is executed. Thereafter, GPS information associated with the image data of the plural different image data files is rearranged to generate display data. In this way, the processing is complicated and heavy-load processing including plural processing processes. As a result, it takes time until data is displayed, it is difficult to perform the processing in the imaging apparatus, and processing in the PC is necessary.